Our trip to Scotland

Bill and I made it to Scotland.  Together.  Finally!  It was a much needed get away for both of us. 

We went to visit our dear friends Alison and Rod, who live outside of Edinburgh in a small steading.  A steading is the service buildings on a farm.  Many of these steadings have been converted into homes.  Rod's and Alison's home is gorgeous; solid stone walls of at least 3 feet deep.  A few steps out of their house and you are in beautiful farm country.

We enjoyed many walks through the countryside.  On our first day, we walked from the steading to a small village called Garvald.  On the way, we saw this beautifully restored tower from the 14th century. 

I'm not sure this is readable but it is so interesting!

This was the "potty" for the tower residents.   There are holes that they would sit on and everything would fall through....forget the bows and arrows!  I can't think of a better way to keep people away! 

We were absolutely enthralled with the intricate stonework that was everywhere.  There are stone walls to keep in livestock that are just so amazingly constructed...

The path crossed a little stream that meandered about.

Some of us didn't want to use the bridge...

Garvald is a lovely village in the middle of East Lothian.  There isn't much around it except for large tracts of farmland...

Most of the structures are very old.  You can see by the stonework that this building has been changed.  You can see the windows that have been filled in.

We went to The Garvald Inn, a lovely pub that let's you bring your dogs in and has absolutely fantastic food and atmosphere.

Bill and Rod enjoying the back patio of the pub.

More later....stayed tuned...

Sigh...

Not all days on the boat end well...yup, that's a tow boat.

At least we had a beautiful sunset?

Oh my!

This is long overdue, I know, but here is the very latest adventure in the Jensen family history. 

We did the unthinkable; we actually did something on Memorial Day.  We are usually holiday crowd hermits and celebrate holidays quietly at home.  However, someone had the bright idea to take the boat out on Jordan Lake.

We left early in the morning with friends Courtney and Walker and gave them a tour of the lake including one of the eagle nests.  Jordan Lake is a bald eagle preserve and there are many stands such as this for the eagles to safely raise their young.  Mama eagle was very used to boats and people and calmly watched everyone watching her.



Courtney and Walker looked great too and posed nicely for a picture:





Bill wasn't quite as accomodating:

The weather was perfect:

Bill talked a lot as usual:

As he does whenever he has a captive audience (not captivated, mind you.)

Evan stopped by and joined us for some swimming and wake boarding:

It was a wonderful day for family, friends and fun.  We got off the lake just in time for a thunderstorm to dump on us on our way back home! 

I have not disappeared...

Really.  I know it's hard to believe because I haven't posted anything for so long.  So, I have a lot of catching up to do.  But I will start with just last week. 

As some of you know, last year I caught up with my best friend from high school, Nancy, through facebook.  We had lost contact for 27 years and, when we met up last year in Chicago, it was almost as if we had grown into the same people; not quite exactly alike but very similar.  We got together again briefly this past May at my house in NC when Nancy and Bill (her husband, who, by the way was her high school sweetheart, so it was a reunion for us as well) were driving through to have a family gathering at the NC shore.

We had decided that these fleeting get-togethers weren't enough so off I went to visit her in Indiana (she moved out of California for pretty much the same reasons we did).  We had a wonderful week; we laughed, cried, toured around her beautiful town (Bloomington) and had a fantastic time.   I now know exactly why she was my best friend...I have rediscovered her and love her even more than before!  Anyway,  she is an amazing quilter and did own her own quilting shop for 5 years.   I love quilts but have tried my hand at the craft and just couldn't make it happen (I'll stick to knitting and crochet).  I have taken many pictures of her quilts to share:

Above is the house that Nancy had her quilt store in.  It's available!  Anyone interested?  I think a yarn store would be perfect!

One of Nancy's quilts; Molly, one of her 3 dachshunds, is carefully inspecting her handiwork.

Nancy, on left, and Jane, who has the long arm quilting machine (seen on the right edge of the picture).
This quilt was designed by Suzanne, Nancy's daughter-in-law, and sewn up by Nancy.  Jane finished with the quilting on the long arm machine.  It is so gorgeous! The end result is going to Olivia, Nancy's baby granddaughter....lucky thing!

Jane lives in a beautiful log cabin in the middle of the woods.  Her quilts are everywhere!





Below are close-ups of her quilts

The quilt above has writing quilted in the backgrou

I did try to teach Nancy how to knit (those are her hands in the photo).  It's a good thing she's such a fast learner because, as you can see, we had our hands, or should I say, our laps full.  Three very cuddly and spoiled dachshunds felt that our sole purpose in life was to rub their heads.  That's Herbie, with the dolefull eyes, Molly is in the middle, and Daisy is on the top with back legs on my lap and front paws on Nancy's.  It was too, too cute!

I arrived back home on Thursday morning after some weather related flight cancellations.  I had to get back for Friday football!  As some of you know, I'm a football mom, so I prepare, with about 6 or 7 other football moms, a pre-game meal for about 70 to 80 boys before every game.  This Friday was a special night to honor all of the graduating seniors, of which my son, Evan is one.  After four years of football, it is really difficult to say good-bye.  It has been wonderful; the parents, the coaches but especially the boys have been absolutely so special.  I've enjoyed every minute.





Bill, Evan and Lydia

Evan and his girlfriend, Courtney

All of us....

There will be more posts coming.  I do have some additional pictures of knit camp in Scotland but am ahem....waiting on someone to give them to me (you know who you are!).  I will also be posting more about this last football season....once I get all my pictures sorted out.



OK...so I show up for work after a two week vacation and find....

...well I find that I work with a snarky bunch.  This is what greeted me at the door...

You'd think I was gone for a year!

The last days in Shetland and Scotland

Our last day in Shetland was the coldest of the trip.  The wind was blowing so hard and the rain was absolutely horizontal at times.  We packed our bags, boarded the bus and drove south towards Sumburgh Head.  Along the way, we saw several brochs which are the ancient remains of old dwellings of the Pictish people who inhabited the island. 

We were treated to gorgeous sea scapes along the way...

And yet another broch ...

Sumburgh Head was gorgeous but freezing cold.  The wind was blowing so hard it was hard to walk. 

Unfortunately, all the puffins had left for the winter so we didn't see any nesting...

Another interesting thing about Sumburgh Head; to get there you have to drive across the airport runway.  They have special lights when a plane is coming in or taking off that keeps traffic off the tarmac but, when there is no air traffic, then the cars just drive right across.

We drove back up to Lerwick to catch the ferry.  Because of the wind, the seas were really rough so we all went to bed pretty early.  Trudy and I did fine and did not get sick but there were some who were a bit queasy.

The very last day in Scotland was spent in Edinburgh.  We walked through a beautiful park on the other side of the castle.

The garden was beautifully manicured with a tribute to Girl Guiding done all in small plants and flowers

The castle from the north side...

 

I couldn't help myself.  I had to take a picture of a red phone booth!

The flight home was long and tedious with some difficulties but we arrived safely, albeit pretty tired.

We had a wonderful trip and have many wonderful memories as well as many new friends from all over the world.  It wouldn't have been as fun if my dear sister and travelling companion extraordinaire, Trudy, wasn't with me the whole way!

 

Love ya, sis!